U.S. Pat. No. 3,542,560, issued on Nov. 24, 1970 to Tomarelli et al., discloses fat compositions for infant formulas having an increased portion of the palmitic acid in the beta (2) position of the triglyceride. This increase is obtained by blending lard, or a synthetic beta-monopalmitin, with the other oils comprising the fat composition, which have a relatively low portion of beta palmitic acid. Such other oils listed are corn, soy bean, palm, peanut, coconut, olive, babassu, cotton seed, oleo, and tallow. However, the use of lard is unacceptable in many areas of the world for religious reasons, and synthetic triglycerides are prohibitively expensive for large scale use. Thus, fat compositions for use in infant formulas are sought which are broadly acceptable on religious dietary grounds, are highly absorbed, have a fatty acid content similar to human milk and are economical to manufacture on very large scales.
Three more recent U.S. patents disclose all vegetable oil fat compositions for use in infant nutritional products with palm oil as the sole palmitic acid oil. These are U.S. Pat. No. 4,282,265, issued on Aug, 4, 1981, to Theuer and U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,614,663 and 4,721,626, issued on Sep. 30, 1986 and Jan. 26, 1988, respectively, to Rule.
Most recently, European patent publication No. 0376628, published on Jul. 4, 1990, to American Home Products Corporation (Tomarelli) discloses all vegetable oil fat compositions in which the palmitic acid oil alone is randomized. This European patent publication also discloses all vegetable oil fat compositions including medium-chain triglycerides for use in infant nutritional products for preterm or low birthweight infants in which the palmitic acid oil alone is randomized.
The present invention differs from that of EP 0376628 in that at least one palmitic acid oil and one lauric acid oil are corandomized, which causes interesterification randomly between the fatty acids of the palmitic acid oil and the lauric acid oil. This corandomization of the two oils resulted in surprisingly superior absorbability to that found when the palm olein oil of the mixture was randomized. Additionally, in the fat compositions of the present invention oleo oil may be used as a palmitic acid oil to be corandomized with a lauric acid oil.
In a further aspect of the present invention, at least one palmitic acid oil and one oleic acid oil are corandomized which provides a fat blend with surprisingly superior absorbability and a close simulation to human breast milk.